Issue 146: Sept/Oct 2022 Protect Your Pate Thinning hair is a bummer for anybody, but for sailors especially it has major downsides, among them sunburn, scalp cuts, bumps, and bruises. There is just n...
Here’s a cook’s tour of seaworthy recipes suitable for a good old boat’s chef. Issue 146: Sept/Oct 2022 Pity the poor cook. Think of the limited space for a galley on most good old b...
Issue 147: Nov/Dec 2022 Even though the sailors in our lives might think they have it all, we know there is always something they need. Their preferences can vary as much as their boats. Read on for s...
Issue 149: March/April 2023 With the mainsail hoisted and our 6-hp Mercury pushing us toward Lake Michigan, we scooted out of Pentwater Lake Inlet with high hopes. My 15-year-old brother, Matt, hanked...
Issue 150: May/June 2023 It wasn’t two-foot-itis, but bluewater-itis, that sent us on a search for a new boat more than a decade ago. The desire for a seaworthy cruiser launched a quest that would tak...
Ruminations on sailing in years past drive home a fundamental truth Issue 151: July/Aug 2023 I’m climbing down the ladder from the stern of Affinity and pulling the tarp zipper as I descend, perhaps f...
A longtime sailor ponders the seemingly human qualities of an obdurate outboard Issue 151: July/Aug 2023 Over a long sailing life, I have found that there are times when, for no apparent reason, an ou...
The magazine’s co-founder reflects on the early days and what boaters and farmers have in common Issue 151: July/Aug 2023 Like many Good Old Boat readers, Jerry and I have been accumulating boats for ...
Issue 151: July/Aug 2023 This issue of Good Old Boat, #151, marks 25 years since the magazine was first published in the summer of 1998. Great Lakes sailors Karen Larson and Jerry Powlas, who met thro...
A mariner grapples with an unfamiliar reluctance — and finds the cure Issue 152: Sept/Oct 2023 The grayer I get, the more of a serenity-seeking sailor I become. Or is “serenity-seeking” another way of...
Issue 152: Sept/Oct 2023 As we approached the marina in downtown Poulsbo, trees clad in brilliant orange, gold, and red leaves along the town’s waterfront came into view. It was a spectacular fall wee...
After a lifetime of sailing, an ideal last boat creates enduring memories Issue 153: Nov/Dec 2023 There are many resources for learning how to sail. It is a fascinating subject with so many things to ...
When my wife Susan and I bought our Contessa 32, Hunter Star, in LaPaz, Mexico, I asked the owner if the boat came with a dinghy. He hemmed and hawed a bit, and finally said there was an old fiberglas...
Graveyard of the Pacific: Shipwreck and Survival on America’s Deadliest Waterway by Randall Sullivan There are many North American inlets out there that at times can be difficult, even dangerous. I on...
The Deepest Map: The High-Stakes Race to Chart the World’s Oceans by Laura Trethewey Sailors don’t use “maps” for navigating, we use charts. So why review a book called The Deepest Map? The short answ...
When you break a mast or need a new spreader base or just want to have a fresh coat of paint applied to an old aluminum mast, where can you go? What if you want a new cockpit arch, bow rollers, pulpit...
For those familiar with the writing and sailing accomplishments of Webb Chiles and his many voyages in small boats, a new short film about him is worth watching. The film follows the arch of Chiles...
Readers who enjoyed Bert Vermeer’s review of the Vancouver 27 in the September/October 2023 issue of Good Old Boat will get a kick out of best-selling author Donald Hamilton’s Cruises with Kathleen: M...
An easy and satisfying project to keep all your hoses organized. A friend of mine has a very large motor yacht and the degree of “comforts of home” and the associated complexity of plumbing in the eng...
This is not a sailing story. As a matter of fact, there are only three scenes that occur aboard sailing ships — all epic, which makes it a worthwhile read for sailors. From start to finish, Hold Fast ...
Sitting in the cockpit together, my wife Jill and I watched daylight slowly appear over the Washington coast as our boys, Porter and Magnus, slept soundly in the gentle swell. It was good to be out on...
For most of the 1980s we owned Dodieva, a 35-foot, Sparkman & Stephens-designed weekender sloop built in 1939. Dodieva had spent the winter in Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts and in the spring of 19...
Memoir of a Sailor’s Voyage in a Bygone Era San Juan, Puerto Rico. My husband Tom and I and our crew member sit at outside tables in the old city. We have cold drinks before us and she is lookin...
“So, yeah, I think we should use Bondo.” Jeremy looked up from where he was inspecting the bulkhead. I stared at him. “Bondo? Like the stuff Danny DeVito’s character in Matilda used when he wanted to ...
There is a common saying that every object on a boat must serve more than one purpose, and I recently learned that the sentiment can be applied to clothes as well. Although we cast off for cruising tw...
This Old Boat author Don Casey used the Coronado 35 as the poster child for ugly sailboats. Hollywood must not read such books. In two of the 10-episodes of The Night Agent currently on Netflix, a Cor...
When an enticing “free boat” presents an opportunity, a couple does their due diligence en route to a tough decision. My wife and I recently contemplated taking on a “free boat”...
This first-person narrative will not, contrary to the title, actually teach you how to build a boat. Rather, Jonathan Gornall tells the tale of his personal quest to construct a traditional clinker-bu...
It is a tale oft told, a bright and promising voyage of brave young people who sail off to conquer terra incognita, well equipped and well led, only to be taught cruel and tragic lessons by the extrem...
On October 15, 2022 at the Kingston Yacht Club in Kingston, Ontario, in front of a sold-out audience, 12 prominent past and present members of the Canadian sailing community were inducted into the Can...
